Call of Juarez The Cartel - PChttp://www.gameinformer.com/games/call_of_juarez_the_cartel/b/pc/atom.aspxCommunity Server2011-03-03T16:13:00ZA Promising Co-Op Concept Can't Save This Subpar Shooter/games/call_of_juarez_the_cartel/b/pc/archive/2011/07/20/review.aspx2011-07-20T22:25:00Z2011-07-20T22:25:00Z<p><img src="http://media1.gameinformer.com/imagefeed/featured/ubisoft/callofjuarez/thecartel/calljuarez220-610.jpg" style="max-width:610px;" border="0" alt="" /></p>
<p>With its focus on the two gunslinging McCall brothers, the lack of co-op in Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood was puzzling. It seems Techland recognized its error, as it made three-player cooperative play a key element of The Cartel. While its approach to co-op features some intriguing ideas, they&rsquo;re never fleshed out enough to make up for the generic and glitchy gameplay.</p>
<p>Players take the role of three uninspired protagonists &ndash; the modern-day cowboy Ben McCall, the gambling DEA officer Eddie Guerra, or FBI agent Kim Evans &ndash; who must take down a powerful cartel leader. No matter who you pick, expect to be subjected to countless lines that sound like they came from a parody of bad cop movies. Techland obviously wanted McCall to come off as a gruff ***, but the character&rsquo;s history is laughably overwritten. At various points, McCall is portrayed as a homicide detective, vice cop, cowboy, Vietnam vet, and pimp. Lines about riding in on a pale horse and &ldquo;I bring not peace, but a f***ing sword&rdquo; are cheesy the first time you hear them, but even worse after being repeated <i>ad nauseam</i> throughout the seven-hour campaign.</p>
<p>Shooting your way through gang-ridden urban areas and shady drug operations across the border aren&rsquo;t novel concepts, but some co-op features show promise early on. Local co-op isn&rsquo;t an option, and it would actually be a detriment to the experience thanks to the &ldquo;co-opetition&rdquo; elements. At various times, your character receives text messages or phone calls behind your partners&rsquo; backs. They may hear your side of the conversation, but the details remain unknown to everyone but you.</p>
<p>During these calls you receive dirt on your co-op partners, as well as hidden objectives that you&rsquo;re tasked with performing without being spotted. Snatching that cell phone or wallet you spotted can help you level up if you are stealthy about it, but your partner gets the XP bonus if he or she catches you red-handed. Looking around the room to make sure you&rsquo;re alone before attempting the grab is fun, and it&rsquo;s even better if you&rsquo;re the one catching your partner in the act.</p>
<p>While the hidden agendas and secret phone calls are intriguing early on, &ldquo;co-opetition&rdquo; never really goes anywhere interesting. Gameplay is rarely affected outside of the item grabs, and the characters aren&rsquo;t interesting enough to give the gossipy calls any weight.</p>
<p>If you strip away the novel co-op elements (or play single-player), you&rsquo;re left with a poorly written, monotonous shooter. Leveling up and advancing through the story unlocks new guns, but you never end up feeling powerful as you mow down waves of cookie-cutter drug runners. If one or both of your partners is controlled by A.I., expect them to be useless in virtually every situation. The game tries to break up the action with vehicle chase sequences, but they&rsquo;re so scripted that you fail if you try to stray even a few dozen feet from the predetermined path.</p>
<p>The Cartel&rsquo;s subpar concept is made even worse by the litany of glitches from beginning to end. I experienced my screen going black except for the HUD, abrupt loads that made enemies and objects appear out of thin air, floating characters, enemies stuck in hilarious animation loops, and plenty more. Actions don&rsquo;t sync well in co-op, either. You may see your partner sprinting around, while in reality he or she is crouch walking. In one mission, I witnessed my partner waving his hands wildly in front of a rock, followed by the graffiti tag animating about five seconds after he had ran away from it. Spellchecking wasn&rsquo;t on the QA task list, either. I saw the wrong usage of &ldquo;your/you&rsquo;re&rdquo; more often than not, and plenty of words feature extra consonants (&ldquo;ammount&rdquo;) or other misspellings. In addition, the poorly edited subtitles are often entirely different sentences than the groan-inducing dialogue coming out of the characters&rsquo; mouths.</p>
<p>Call of Juarez: The Cartel is a definite step back for the series. Bound in Blood wasn&rsquo;t a blockbuster, but it was a solid shooter with an interesting Western vibe. Fans of the Outlaws vs. Lawmen multiplayer in that title might enjoy its cops/criminals counterpart in The Cartel, but it&rsquo;s certainly not enough to recommend a purchase. Its objective-based action tasks the two sides with performing a series of actions. Some of these objectives are ridiculous, such as using bombs to blow open wooden crackhouse doors, or having a team of cops unload assault rifles into a circuit box to disable it. Rounds take too long to complete and the gunplay doesn&rsquo;t feel responsive enough for fans of multiplayer FPS fans. It&rsquo;s not as broken as the single-player game, but it&rsquo;s certainly not as fun as other available online shooters.</p>
<p>When Techland and Ubisoft revealed the surprising modern-day setting for the The Cartel, it was met with plenty of skepticism from the gaming community. This skepticism proved justified, as the game is generic at best, broken at worst, and falls short in its attempts to innovate cooperative play.</p><div style="clear:both;"></div><img src="http://www.gameinformer.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=1076923" width="1" height="1">GIDanhttp://www.gameinformer.com/members/GIDan/default.aspxCall Of Juarez: The Cartel Trailer Shows Off Multiplayer Modes/games/call_of_juarez_the_cartel/b/pc/archive/2011/07/13/call-of-juarez-the-cartel-multiplayer-trailer.aspx2011-07-13T23:55:00Z2011-07-13T23:55:00Z<p><img src="http://media1.gameinformer.com/imagefeed/featured/ubisoft/callofjuarez/thecartel/juarezmultiplayermain.jpg" style="max-width:610px;" border="0" alt="" /></p>
<p>Call of Juarez: The Cartel adds a modern-day twist to the Wild West as players make their way from LA to Ciudad Juarez to take down a Mexican drug cartel. <br /><br />Along with the single-player campaign, The Cartel offers two multiplayer modes: Classic Team Death Match (cops vs. criminals) and Objective Mode (two sides compete to complete goals). Both modes can be played with up to 12 players (six vs. six).<br /><br />Check out The Cartel&#39;s multiplayer modes in action below.</p>
<p>(Please visit the site to view this media)</p><div style="clear:both;"></div><img src="http://www.gameinformer.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=1061680" width="1" height="1">GIAnnettehttp://www.gameinformer.com/members/GIAnnette/default.aspxThe Characters Of Call Of Juarez: The Cartel/games/call_of_juarez_the_cartel/b/pc/archive/2011/07/07/the-characters-of-call-of-juarez-the-cartel.aspx2011-07-07T21:44:00Z2011-07-07T21:44:00Z<p><img src="http://media1.gameinformer.com/imagefeed/featured/ubisoft/callofjuarez/thecartel/calljuarez220-610.jpg" style="max-width:610px;" border="0" alt="" /></p>
<p>Ubisoft has issued some dossiers on the game&#39;s characters, and a good look at what&#39;s coming The Cartel&#39;s way.</p>
<p>Call of Juarez: The Cartel brings the previously Western series into the modern day, and to help you get acclimated to the new characters and story, Ubisoft and developer Techland have issued these video dossiers on the main characters that also show off some of the game&#39;s action.</p>
<p>Call of Juarez: The Cartel comes out July 19 on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC. Check out this previous preview about the game&#39;s <a href="http://www.gameinformer.com/games/call_of_juarez_the_cartel/b/ps3/archive/2011/06/16/call-of-juarez-the-cartel-trailer-showcases-new-quot-coopetition-quot-mode.aspx">co-op gameplay</a>.</p>
<p><b>Main Character Ben McCall&#39;s Family Tree</b></p>
<p><b><img src="http://media1.gameinformer.com/imagefeed/featured/ubisoft/callofjuarez/thecartel/cojtc7.7familytree.jpg" style="max-width:610px;" border="0" alt="" /><br /></b></p>
<p><b>Ben McCall</b></p>
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<p><b>Eddie Guerra</b></p>
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<p><b>Kim Evans</b></p>
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<div style="clear:both;"></div><img src="http://www.gameinformer.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=1049090" width="1" height="1">GIKatohttp://www.gameinformer.com/members/GIKato/default.aspxCall Of Juarez: The Cartel Trailer Showcases New "Coopetition" Mode/games/call_of_juarez_the_cartel/b/pc/archive/2011/06/16/call-of-juarez-the-cartel-trailer-showcases-new-quot-coopetition-quot-mode.aspx2011-06-16T18:54:00Z2011-06-16T18:54:00Z<p><img src="http://media1.gameinformer.com/imagefeed/featured/ubisoft/callofjuarez/thecartel/call-of-juarez-the-cartel-new610.jpg" style="max-width:610px;" border="0" alt="" /></p>
<p>Sure, working together is fun. But sometimes you need to skim a little off the top for yourself. </p>
<p>Moving the setting from the frontier to the new Wild West &ndash; bordertown Mexico &ndash; isn&#39;t the only big change Techland has in store for Call of Juarez: The Cartel. The campaign is now a three-player co-op affair where teammates work together to take down a drug cartel while trying to forward their own secret agenda on the DL at the same time. The goal is to inject some cold-blooded competition to the co-op fraternity. </p>
<p>Each of the three protagonists comes from a crime fighting background &ndash; Ray McCall&#39;s descendent Ben McCall works for the LAPD, Eddie Guerra is a DEA agent, and Kim Evans overcame her youth on the streets to join the FBI &ndash; but each also wrestles with personal demons the others don&#39;t know about. Over the course of the 15-mission campaign each character comes face to face with his or her troubled past. For instance, Eddie has racked up some serious gambling debts, and nicking a bag of drugs from a cartel hideout could generate the cash he needs to avoid getting his ankles broken. These scenarios present themselves throughout the campaign, and players must try to complete their ulterior agendas without being caught by teammates. Completing secret agenda tasks earns experience points that players can use to unlock new weapons. If you bust a friend in the act, however, you get to keep the points for yourself.</p>
<p>To see the co-op in action, check out this trailer:</p>
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<p>Call of Juarez: The Cartel ships on July 19.</p>
<div style="clear:both;"></div><img src="http://www.gameinformer.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=1001194" width="1" height="1">GIBertzhttp://www.gameinformer.com/members/GIBertz/default.aspxCall Of Juarez: The Cartel Brings The West To Modern Day L.A./games/call_of_juarez_the_cartel/b/pc/archive/2011/03/03/call-of-juarez-the-cartel-bring-the-west-to-modern-day-l-a.aspx2011-03-03T22:13:00Z2011-03-03T22:13:00Z<p><img src="http://media1.gameinformer.com/imagefeed/featured/ubisoft/callofjuarez/thecartel/cojcartelpc610.jpg" style="max-width:610px;" border="0" alt="" /></p>
<p>When Ubisoft first revealed Call of Juarez: The Cartel, fans of the
series were confused. What does a game set in modern day L.A. have to do
with the franchise&#39;s Western theme? Recently, the publisher revealed
some new information that explains the dramatic setting shift.<br /><br />The
Cartel tells the story of a ruthless drug cartel&#39;s war against the
American government in modern times. After the cartel bombs a U.S. law
enforcement agency, the government creates a task force to stop the drug
runners. Ubisoft has revealed the task force&#39;s three key characters:</p>
<ul>
<li>Kim Evans: a &quot;gang-affiliated street kid-turned-FBI agent.&quot;</li>
<li>Eddie Guerra: a &quot;DEA agent with a chronic gambling habit.&quot;</li>
<li>Ben McCall: a &quot;brutal LAPD detective&quot; and descendant of the first Call of Juarez&#39;s Ray McCall.</li>
</ul>
<p>It&#39;s up to these three characters to hunt down and stop the cartel&#39;s
kingpin. Over the course of the game players will travel through
California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Juarez, Mexico. Not only can you
choose to be any of the three characters during the campaign (each
character will have a unique story and ending), but there will also be
an online three player co-op mode will have you and two friends
controlling the trio together.<br /><br />Ubisoft is promising a wide
variety of mission types, including undercover missions and car chases,
while keeping the &quot;unique themes of the Wild West intact.&quot; How developer
Techland plans to accomplish this is anybody&#39;s guess, but Ubisoft tells
us that it will be revealing more details about the game soon,
including &quot;a twist on the three-player co-op storyline.&quot; Until then,
check out the announcement trailer and concept art below.</p>
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